"Rosemary and Rue" Book Review

[maverick_weirdo]

Not spoilery but still behind a cut

Rosemary and Rue is an excellent read. The challenge of a first novel of a series is to describe not only the characters and plot, but also the world the characters inhabit. From the beginning the author gives the reader a feeling of how different the fae world is, in spite of its close proximity to our own. Living as long as they do, time has a different meaning for different characters.

While the world is fascinating and complex, it is the characters that really drive this story, starting and ending with October “Toby” Daye. She is a fiercely independent person who would rather be left alone by her mother’s people. In spite of (or perhaps because of) her independence she is much sought after by those in the fae.

The central story is the simplest of the many mysterious questions that crop up in course of this book. It is Ms. McGuire’s knack for throwing in plausible curveballs which keeps things from becoming too predictable.

Comments

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

I apparently stumbled over a copy that had been shelved too early in the local Borders two weeks back, and picked it up. So I've been a bit champing at the bit for others to finish, so I could chew it over with them!

So thanks!

Like you, I loved the kind of research, and invention that went into structuring a Faerie world that would contain all the diverse elements and reflections of San Francisco's human population -- from Scottish Redcaps, to Japanese Kitsune. I thought the Fae were brilliantly handled, and as a student of Faerie mythology, I appreciated her precision, and imagination in combining the whole messy lot into a cohesion.

What I did find disappointing though, was that in the ending few chapters, Toby was becoming something of a crush-magnet for every powerful Fae male in the narrative. That reminded me WAAAAY too much of all the things I utterly loathe about the Anita Blake series. Now don't get me wrong, I'm as fond of eroticism and sexual tension as the next pornographer, but I do NOT like to see a character I've been coming to enjoy, and respect over the length of a novel suddenly developing Prom Queen tendencies. Because the more Love Interests she gets, the more time the author's going to wind up investing in furthering those love interests later on, and before too many more books, you're hip deep in soap opera interactions, and the plot doesn't show up until somewhere around page 230. *This happened in Obsidian Butterfly, which was the last Laurell K Hamilton book I ever picked up.*

I liked Rosemary and Rue too much to watch it go that way, and so I'm really hoping that the author will think better of that direction, and edit a few of those boyfriend hopefuls out of her future work with this world. But even if she doesn't, I'm still likely to read more, just on account of how skillfully she's drawn me into her world.
She's got a long way to fall before she'll be on the level with LKH, knock wood!

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

You've met Seanan haven't you?

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

If I have, I've not retained the name-connection-to-face, to help me out with the context. If she's an Arisia-goer though, then it's entirely possible.

She's a filker

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

She doesn't get to Boston too often.

Back at Concertino '06 she came out with her 1st CD "Pretty Little Dead Girls". She gave a concert on that Sunday.

Re: She's a filker

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure we didn't see it. I think we wound up leaving around midday on Sunday, so we'd get home in time for Dominus to get some reasonable sleep before the workday.